Minimising Business Waste at Halloween
There are several ways to minimise your business’s Halloween waste. Consider buying secondhand costumes, reusing old decorations, and recycling candy wrappers. In addition to avoiding single-use plastics, you can also recycle cardboard packaging. These tips will help you recycle Halloween waste and avoid littering your business’s grounds. Also, keep your business’s Halloween garbage bin as clean as possible. After all, you don’t want to litter the environment with plastic.
Buying secondhand costumes
Buying secondhand costumes is an excellent way to cut your costume spending without compromising quality. The best thing about a secondhand costume is its ability to last more than one Halloween! Plastic disposable costumes quickly become waste once the festivities are over. Instead of buying new ones, visit a thrift store to purchase a high-quality secondhand costume. The thrift store will also accept used costumes so you can get rid of your waste while helping the environment at the same time.
You can consider making them yourself rather than buying new costumes every year.
Old clothes and household items can serve as parts of a costume. You can also use natural household products such as face paint and warts for the finishing touches. Another alternative is to rent a costume. Fortunately, many thrift stores and yard sales have costume sections for renters and buyers. And once you’ve worn it once, you can save it to use again next year! Most secondhand costumes are made from materials such as polyester and oil-based materials.
They’re cheap and easy to buy, but they have some serious downsides: they’re made in developing countries with a high percentage of children and forced labour. The materials used for a Halloween costume also contain harmful plastic micro-fibres, which can harm aquatic life. A newer Halloween costume could be just the thing you need to save the planet. Purchasing secondhand costumes for Halloween is a great way to cut your costume budget and save the environment.
You’ll find a variety of secondhand costumes in thrift stores, both inexpensive and creative. Unlike pop-up Halloween stores, secondhand costumes can be a great way to get a fun and affordable costume. If you have kids, why not let them dress up for Halloween in a costume already used by someone else?
Reusing old decorations
When buying Halloween decorations, check for reused items first. Paper and plastic decorations can be recycled or reused. Make sure to look for a recycling symbol that features a number. You can check with your local council to know which plastics they accept. Also, take out extra parts like batteries, so you don’t put out more waste than necessary. In addition, keep in mind that using glitter on your decorations is a wasteful practice and can create environmental problems.
You can find tons of old books in thrift stores. You can buy old hardcover books in varying sizes. The back and front of these books are solid so that you can stack them creatively. Dark books create a depth effect in your holiday design, and they can also add a different height to your staging. You can use decorative materials to create a ghostly scene.
The Ocean Conservancy has some great ideas for reusing old Halloween decorations. Single-use Halloween decorations are also a big waste problem. They take up resources and are often made of harmful materials. After Halloween, these decorations end up in landfills or litter. You can avoid this problem by using green Halloween decorations. These decorations are made from sustainable materials and last longer than plastic ones.
This way, you’ll be able to reuse them and reduce your trash. Once you’ve used them, make sure to dispose of them properly. Using old Halloween decorations is a great way to reduce your business’s waste and still celebrate Halloween. The good news is that it’s much easier than you might think. There are many ways to reduce your business’s waste and still enjoy the festivities. You can reduce your business’s environmental impact without hurting your budget. If you follow these tips, your Halloween celebration won’t hurt the earth and will save you money.
Recycling candy wrappers
In 2019, Americans bought 600 million pounds of Halloween candy. Eight of the top ten brands come wrapped in plastic. Because plastic wrappers are so small and can’t be recycled, there is no market for them. Instead, they wind up in landfills. If you are a business owner, you can take action by recycling the candy wrappers. Here are some tips to help you recycle your candy wrappers. First, purchase in bulk. Buy candy in bulk if possible. Also, know how much you’ll be giving away. If you’re not giving away all of your candy, try to give it to local crafters or appropriately recycle them.
Avoiding putting plastic in your recycling bin
If you’re a Halloween fan, you’re aware of the waste created by this fun, spooky holiday. According to a study by the Retail Council of Canada, Canadians spend more money on Halloween than Americans do. Halloween is estimated to cost the Canadian economy £1 billion. Regardless of your personal beliefs about Halloween, there are easy ways to minimise the waste you create this season. To begin with, don’t place anything plastic in your recycling bin.
This includes wrapping paper, which is not recyclable. It’s made of a coating that prevents it from being processed into new paper. Also, avoid placing Halloween decorations in your recycling bin. Candy wrappers aren’t recyclable and should be thrown out with other organic waste. Plastic and cardboard are considered “mixed materials” in recycling facilities.
Instead, use pillowcases to collect candy and treats. This way, you won’t have to worry about plastic bags, and you’ll be able to fit more in them. These pillowcases will also help you reuse them year-round. Finally, don’t put plastic bags in your recycling bin. Just remember to rinse them out before throwing them out. Also, if you do end up throwing candy, make sure you separate the cans from the recyclables.
Despite what most people think, you can still sustainably enjoy Halloween by avoiding the plastics in your costumes. You can also reuse them by making new ones from old clothes or old material. You can even re-wear the old costume again with new hairstyles and makeup, which will reduce your waste. You can even try using old newspapers for decorations, as they can be recycled in your recycling bin after use.
Reusing string lights
If you’re in the business of selling string lights, consider recycling them as a part of your post-Halloween clean-up.
Also, consider starting a Hallow-Cleaning campaign in your community that encourages people to pick up litter and debris at the end of the Halloween season. Once the Halloween festivities have concluded, consider donating your leftover decorations to a local thrift store
. Donating your unwanted decorations extends their use and keeps them out of landfills. However, do not recycle decorative string lights in your curbside recycling bin, as these can tangle with equipment and cause a mess. Instead, you can mail the string lights to a recycling program or e-waste drop-off site. If you’re still storing them for the next Halloween season, consider donating or reusing them for the following year.
Kent County in Ohio has offered a string light recycling program since 2014 and has collected more than 2.5 tons of string lights since the program began. Since then, the program has become a year-round tradition, with a string light recycling program. The county will collect the boxes and transport them to a local metal recycler for proper processing. Once processed, the lights can be reused as an outdoor decoration year-round. Remember that string lights shouldn’t be placed in your home recycling bin or large trash containers.
Business Waste at Halloween – Learn more about UK business waste statistics here
Other useful links from our Commercial Waste Centre
Why Should Your Business Go Paperless?
Choosing a Garage Waste Management Service
Developing an EMS for Hazardous Waste
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